BREAKING NEWS UPDATE TO THIS STORY - Simon Wiesenthal Center Says Airbnb Boycott Remains In Place

December 17, 2018

"The reports issued earlier today are inaccurate. Airbnb expressed its unequivocal rejection of the BDS movement and communicated its commitment to develop its business in Israel, enabling more tourists from around the world to enjoy the wonders of the country and its people. We are here to meet with a variety of stakeholders and as a result of our meetings have an even deeper understanding that this is an incredibly complex and emotional issue. Airbnb communicated that we are developing the tools needed to implement our policy and that process includes continuing our dialogue with the Government of Israel and other stakeholders.”

“If confirmed, this is welcome news and we will inform our constituency of 400,000 families that we are dropping our boycott of Airbnb," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Associate Dean and Director of the Jewish NGO’s global social action agenda.

“The Simon Wiesenthal Center, has been in direct contact with Airbnb, as recently as Friday, urging the company to recognize that it erred in injecting politics into their business model,” Cooper added. “Jews were especially incensed that the company declared that 'settlements' are at the core of the Israel-Palestinian dispute, at a time when Hamas continues to attack Israel’s recognized international border in the South, wreaking havoc on the environment with arson attacks and when Hezbollah - along with 100,000+ rockets targeting Israeli communities - has dug multiple terror tunnels breaching Israel’s northern international border.”

For more information, please contact the Center's Communications Department, 310-553-9036. join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).